Kumon Brunei - Potential 2022 Issue 2

Haydar & Asyhar

Callum Singh Sekhon

Dear Readers,

Everyone at Kumon Brunei is glad to welcome our students back to in-Centre classes and learning. It has been a long, approximately eight months away, and the sight of many happy faces at our Kumon Centres makes all the preparation for the resumption of classes all the more worthwhile for our Kumon Instructors and staff. We hope everyone has had a safe and rewarding return to classes, with old friendships rekindled and new ones blossoming.

In this issue of Potential, we hear from a pair of brothers, Haydar and Asyhar, who are excelling in Maths, and Callum, who is on Maths level I worksheets. Learn about how Kumon has shaped positive changes in them, through home learning and in their schoolwork, as shared by the boys themselves and their parents.

Through their stories, we wish that all parents are inspired to know that every child, including your own, can be an achiever regardless of his or her initial ability.

Always remember to keep open and regular communication with your child’s Instructor. Do follow us on Facebook [facebook.com/KumonBruneiOfficial] and Instagram @kumon.bn.

Lastly, we have surpassed 1,000 followers on Instagram! A big thank you to everyone who has supported us on Instagram.

Stay well, Han PR & Marketing, Kumon Brunei

Haydar and Asyhar’s mother first came across Kumon on social media. Intrigued by the free Parent Orientation available throughout the year, she attended it with her husband, Mr Muhammad Yusra, and enrolled their eldest son, Haydar. A year on, after seeing Haydar progressing positively, they enrolled their second son, Asyhar.

Haydar initially encountered a challenge in managing his workload, consisting of Kumon and school homework and revision for examinations. It reached a point where Haydar considered quitting Kumon to focus on school. His parents helped him overcome these challenges by providing him with plenty of support. They also explained to him that as he was learning concepts not taught in school yet, the higher-level Kumon worksheets would naturally be more difficult at first.

Haydar’s mother initially felt that the daily study routine was a little harsh on her boys, especially having to do both Kumon and school homework on weekdays. Consistency paid off when the brothers adapted to a new routine, managed their own daily homework time and became self-learners. They now share the same study habits and agree on a certain time to do their Kumon worksheets together. Once done, they will proceed onto school homework and then have their leisure time afterwards.

As working parents, Mr & Mrs Yusra have limited time to assist their children with homework. One key skill they have seen their sons develop from Kumon is independence; taking charge of their own daily routines.

Both brothers are learning ahead of their school grade and hence, are able to help their friends with their homework. They feel that all Kumon worksheets are still difficult but they are able to take on the challenge of solving the questions through constant practice and doing corrections.

From a shy and quiet boy, Haydar made new friends in Kumon and is now more confident in initiating conversations with new acquaintances. With Haydar and Asyhar showing exemplary achievements, their younger brother joined Kumon earlier this year as well. Mr and Mrs Yusra have also learnt to be more patient and ready to provide emotional support to both younger brothers when they encounter difficult questions. It is both parents’ hope that their children continue to excel with Kumon.

Haydar and Asyhar both feel that they have become confident self-learners who enjoy and have fun doing Kumon homework together. The aspiring teacher and police officer respectively, aim to ‘graduate’ from Kumon with flying colours.

Ms

Lourdes Sekhon, Callum’s mother, first heard about Kumon from a relative recounting how a young child was doing Maths worksheets efficiently every day. Next, she saw first-hand how her friend’s son worked quickly on multiplication questions at a young age, which left her impressed. With her interest in Kumon piqued, she enrolled Callum at the age of eight, along with his younger sister, Alisha. She wanted her children to enjoy and understand Maths better with the Kumon Method of learning.

Callum was a little nervous on his first day at Kumon, not knowing what to expect. When he met his Kumon Instructor, he was instantly at ease, as she was so nice and approachable. Callum loves attending Kumon classes as it provides him with a conducive environment to focus, and it is easier for him to call upon the guidance of his Instructor whenever he needed help with challenging questions. The period of remote learning also provided Callum with the convenience of attending Kumon classes from anywhere.

He recalled some days where he wanted to complete more than one set of worksheets per day. Naturally, as he progressed through the levels, he found it more challenging at times. When Callum came across a difficult question, he would try to solve it by recalling the methods he learnt from previous worksheets.

“Callum has fared well in his maths in school ever since he started Kumon, and he is more confident to tackle any questions thrown his way. I am most pleased with the fact that at home, Callum can study independently,” shared Ms Lourdes Sekhon.

She believes consistency is vital and that Callum will develop better time management by adapting to a daily study routine. She has also noticed two key traits instilled in Callum; drive and perseverance. Initially, Callum enjoyed competing against the time taken to complete a set of worksheets. Gradually, he pushed himself to complete a worksheet level in as little time as he could to move onto a higher level. When faced with difficult questions, he is determined to solve them on his own.

“The concept of doing one set of worksheets per day on my own has inevitably helped me become a more confident self-learner. The consistency of problemsolving challenging questions on my own until I get it right has taught me that I should not give up, and that no matter what, I can do it,” Callum reiterated.

Kumon has also benefitted Callum in school. Being ahead of his school grade, Callum quickly understands new topics taught in school and even helps his friends out using what he has picked up from Kumon.

Ms Lourdes Sekhon hopes that with Kumon, Callum will have a more profound love and understanding of maths. She believes that it is essential for him to continue learning with Kumon as his progress and improvements are evident. She seeks a continuation of striving for progress and development of his self-discipline and self-reliance. To new Kumon parents, Ms Lourdes Sekhon recommends constant encouragement, especially when children face difficult questions.

As for Callum’s following goals with Kumon, he aims to keep progressing to higher levels and claim more medals - rewarded for his consistent hard work. Outside of Kumon, Callum is a naturally curious learner who seeks further knowledge on new topics. He is an aspiring comic artist, game-coder, gamer, and enjoys playing the piano and drums in his free time. He cites Algebra as the most interesting maths topic thus far.

“I want to be a teacher when I grow up so that I can give back to the community all that I have learnt. I love how teachers inspire growth in their students and I wish to be able to instil such positive traits in others in the future. In order to do that, I am trying to maintain a positive learning attitude towards my studies and to constantly seek new knowledge,” shared Callum.

Making positive changes in our children by nurturing skills for a lifetime

As parents and their children walk through the doors of the Kumon Centres for the Parents’ Orientation and diagnostics assessments, they would have expected to receive some help in academic performance. What some parents didn’t expect, is the life skills that Kumon study develops. Not only does Kumon develop mathematical, reading and writing skills, Kumon also nurtures essential work and study skills that will help the students beyond the figurative confines of Kumon.

These are some of the life skills that Kumon cultivates in our students – concentration, discipline, time management, confidence and independent learning.

CONCENTRATION

Being able to concentrate for a period of time is a vital skill that our children need to succeed in school. But in this digital era, smartphones, social media and the internet present ample distractions to take our children’s mind off their task at hand.

Kumon aims for our children to finished their assigned worksheets in 1 sitting. After finishing a page, our children are taught to flip to the reverse side right away, and continue with the worksheet. As time go by, our children gradually develop the focus and concentration to benefit them in their studies, even outside of Kumon.

DISCIPLINE

Be it in school or at work in future, our children need the discipline and time management skills to sit down and get started with tasks or homework that needs to be completed, instead of giving in to distractions and procrastinating.

In general, our children visit our Kumon Centres twice a week and Instructors assign worksheets as homework for the other five days. Children have to be disciplined enough to arrange to do their Kumon homework, besides having to deal with school’s homework and other extra or co-curricular activities.

SELF-LEARNING

As you might probably know, Kumon Instructors do not teach. Instead, Kumon nurtures our children into self-learners, by encouraging children to answer the questions without asking for the answer.

Kumon worksheets are designed to facilitate self-learning. Explanations and examples are included in the introductory exercises with new learning foci. Our children work through the worksheets in small, incremental steps from easy to more challenging questions, under the watchful eye of our Kumon Instructors.

When children need help, they are not immediately given the answer or taught how to answer the questions. Instead, Instructors guide the students with appropriate hints and questions to nudge them in the right direction, but students will have to solve the problems on their own.

Through answering the questions on their own, our children gain confidence and motivation to progress further. As parents and working adults, we would realise how these skills are still essential and much sought after in our professional environment. Indeed, these skills transcends the boundaries of Kumon, and will benefit our children in their studies as well as their working life in future.

CONFIDENCE

Confident students will be enthusiastic learners, and pave the way to academic success. When our children start with Kumon, our Instructors will assign a level that children can attain a perfect score with ease, based on the diagnostic assessments.

There might be occasions when Instructors get our children to repeat certain worksheets. The repetitions are meant to build a firm understanding of the current learning focus or concept, before moving on to a new one. Having a good foundation helps our children to feel confident when approaching a new learning focus.

When students are learning materials that are too easy, they feel bored, but when the learning materials gets too difficult, they lose the motivation to carry on. Kumon’s concept of “just-right” level is a sweet spot at which the worksheets is neither too easy, nor too difficult, but rather at a level that is able to challenge out children sufficiently to keep them motivated. As our children overcomes these little challenges, their confidence grow.

Instructors will also praise our children appropriately, in recognition of their little achievements, to motivate them. Some of these achievements could be, completing a set number of worksheets in one sitting for the first time, achieving a good score for a new learning focus, or completing a set of worksheets within the prescribed Standard Completion Time etc. This helps to feel motivated to progress further.

Getting a perfect score from the get-go, then having a solid understanding of the current concept before moving to a new concept at their “just-right” level and earning praises from our Instructors to celebrating little achievements help our children’s confidence soar.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Besides having the discipline, children will also need to manage their time in order to grapple with the other commitments from school and other extra or co-curricular activities. With time, they will learn to manage their time – a skill that will serve them well when they go on to tertiary education and eventually, when they join the workforce.

The Kumon Instructor assigns worksheets that are “just-right” for our children, which are essentially levels at which our children can experience a sense of accomplishment and progress without being taught explicitly. When our children are able to learn by themselves without being taught, they become more confident of their abilities.

As children walk through the doors of our Kumon Centres around the region, there have been some positive impact on them. Let’s read on and find out how our Instructors have helped them, and what are some of the positive changes they’ve seen.

Instructors’ Quotes

“

Liz Yeung Kumon Singapore

“So easy!” This is one of the most satisfying phrases I hear as a Kumon Instructor, especially coming from a student who was once struggling. Every child has a different ability and learning pace. The Kumon Method has allowed the students to build their confidence through small learning steps and progress at their own pace. The repetition and revision of worksheets have allowed students to gain confidence because they have done it before. As Kumon is an individualised programme, students react positively to new learning because they are not afraid of lacking behind.

We try to provide an encouraging environment (be it for face-toface or remote sessions) by giving our students precise, regular feedback and celebrating small wins. Even on challenging days, we acknowledge their effort and motivate them to do their best. This helps them realise the study attitude we value and know that their effort to be better do not go unnoticed.

As the ability to learn independently is an essential habit for school and life, the Kumon Mathematics and English programmes develop self-learning skills and confidence in students. Kumon students use the examples in the worksheets to self-learn their way through difficult problems. Their Kumon Instructors provide individualised study plans and guidance for the students to make smooth progress at a comfortable pace. I believe it is the core of the Kumon Method that allows students to continuously experience the joy of self-learning in real life and to be proactive and confident in everything they do. As a Kumon Instructor, I always feel grateful and proud to see students grow into well-rounded individuals who excel academically and in life.

Students shall master the fundamentals of a subject in order to study beyond their grade level. Students with positive attitude always have a brighter chance to learn more. They are always curious as to what’s coming next once they’re done with one level. Kumon daily worksheet helps to develop positive attitude such as self-discipline which will help them to learn about responsibility at a very young age. Self-discipline is a long term value that will feed one’s focus. Focus breeds punctuality, dependability and productiveness. Students often feel motivated when they can finally do the learning focus that they can’t do before. It increases their confidence and develop their interest in studying.

Danielle Young

Cindy Koh Kumon Australia and New Zealand

Nurul Dini binti Omar Kumon Malaysia

Kumon Brunei

Resumption of in-centre classes

After eight months of home learning, we were finally able to open our doors once more to welcome students back to inCentre learning! We were glad to see the happy faces of students entering their Kumon centres once again and hope that this will remain so for a long time to come.

Kumon Instructors and staff were busy preparing the centres for students’ return, ensuring everything was in order and safe for every student. We heard that many students had missed interacting with friends and teachers in class. May more friendships blossom and more knowledge be gained with the resumption of in-Centre classes.

Despite the restrictions brought about by the pandemic, Kumon students continued to excel and thrive with home learning, under the guidance of their Kumon Instructors. In fact, some students have managed to attain ASHR 5 (studying five years ahead of school grade level) during the home-learning period. Two such students are 13 year old, Darren Airell Bin Roslie (pictured) and 10 year old, Aubrey Khoo Yu Xiang. Darren is in grade seven and doing Maths level I while Aubrey is in grade four and doing Maths level J. With perseverance and discipline, Darren continued with his daily Kumon worksheets despite the closure of Kumon centres during Brunei’s second wave lockdown. He attended online classes and ensured that all his assigned worksheets were diligently completed. After completing the Kumon English programme in November 2021, he went on study Kumon Mathematics and is now aiming to be a double-subject Completer. Aubrey is always up for a challenge to try new worksheets and has a positive attitude towards learning. As such, he has also achieved ASHR 3 for the English programme, doing level H worksheets. There are many individual stories of growth and perseverance from every student and we hope that Darren’s progress will inspire everyone to continue to progress and never give up.

Regular communication between parents and Instructors is crucial to improving children’s motivation for learning and achieving their full learning potential. Download and use these fun Kumon stickers in your ongoing communication with your child’s Instructor today!

WhatsApp users

https://sticker.ly/s/QVALPQ

Telegram users

https://t.me/addstickers/Kumonsg

things you can do to build confidence in your children 5 5

Assigning chores

Getting your children to help out with age-appropriate household chores can help them feel empowered and being part of the family. Such chores can be as simple as throwing the trash, or helping with a pet or younger sibling.

Teaching new skills

Learning new skills could be a motivating confidence booster when the children finds out they can do things that they weren’t able to do before. It could be dribbling a ball, watering plants, or simple crafts.

Positive talk daily

When learning new skills, they don’t always succeed. Let them know that it is okay to not succeed immediately; even Michael Jordan had failed in basketball (he still holds the infamous record of being the worst performer in the NBA three-point contest, having scored five three-pointers out of 30 attempts).

Use the word “yet” to encourage your children. Instead of “I cannot ride a bicycle”, tell them that “he/she just can’t ride a bicycle yet”. Using the word “yet” turns negativity into potential.

Create a family compliment tree

Draw a tree (or use a decal) on a flat wall, then use sticky notes to write a compliment and stick on the tree when someone has done something well (use a different colour for each family member). This helps your children to feel that their good behaviour or good deeds have been acknowledged and spur them on to earn more compliments. If a tree is not feasible, use a compliment jar as an alternative.

Like chores, making decisions help children feel empowered and gives them a sense of belonging. Start by letting them make age-appropriate choices like what to eat, where to go on an outing, what to wear etc.

Let them make decisions

The Origins of the Kumon Method

After more than half a century, his philosophy still continues to help many children develop the ability to reach for their goals and dreams.

Kumon offers learning opportunities in more than 50 different countries and regions around the world.

Handmade materials created by Toru Kumon for his son (Takeshi) in 1954.

Toru Kumon (Founder of the Kumon Method)